American markets are closed today for Independence Day, to resume trading on Thursday.
The European Central Bank and the Bank of England are scheduled to meet Thursday. Analysts are expecting the ECB to cut its key rate by up to half a percentage point and the U.K. central bank to boost the amount of money in circulation.
London's FTSE 100 was off 0.11%, Frankfurt's DAX declined 0.63% and the Paris CAC 40 lost 0.56%
Stocks in Asia were mostly higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.4%South Korea's Kospi gained 0.4%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.1%, China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.1% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.1%.
Oil prices soared $4.07 to $87.07 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gained $19.70 an ounce to $1,616.30